Simmer Starters – June 5, 2015

The baby is here!! I’m busy smooching, and feeding, and diaper changing, and cuddling, and feeding, and feeding the little bundle of love. But, I have some great Simmer Starters to share this week, too. Enjoy!

Failure Only Exists If You Let It(Karin Beery at Ralene Burke’s blog) – An important reminder that we can either look on bad experiences as horrible failures…or great learning experiences. Perspective makes all the difference!

Is Vice More Interesting Than Virtue? (Kathleen Hull) – “Since at least the age of Milton, whose Satan in Paradise Lost allegedly outmatches the other characters in depth and dynamism, artistic depictions of evil have often been associated with power and interest. So it’s not surprising that many critics approached director Kenneth Branagh’s rococo new version of Disney’s Cinderella on the stepmother’s side. ‘Bad always sizzles more than good,’ Manohla Dargis proclaimed in the New York Times. Other critics noted with genuine puzzlement that the title character manages to be compelling in spite of her moral goodness. Where is the dramatic appeal, they wondered, in a conventionally virtuous character?”

“Let’s Talk About Genre”(Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro in conversation) – A fascinating conversation between two famous literary men. If the opening doesn’t hook you, keep skimming…you’re sure to find some interesting tidbits.

Whispers of a Self-Obsessed World(Your Mom Has a Blog) – Love this insight. “Somehow, through the past many years human society has determined that being brave means that you put yourself first. You are strong and courageous when you leave your husband so you can be happy. You are brave when you abandon your children to chase your dreams. You are a role model when you tell off a store clerk or stiff a waitress or write a passive aggressive status about someone on Facebook. Whatever you do that tells the world you don’t have the least amount of concern as to what anyone thinks, that is brave.”

We Talk About What We Love(Rico Tice) – Another DesiringGod post. Convicting on so many levels, especially the topic of evangelism! “When we worship an idol, we turn God into a divine waiter. He is there to deliver our daydream to us. We touch base with him on a Sunday; we put our order in via prayer; we might give a decent tip in the collection plate. But God is essentially there to give us what we feel we need — our idol. And we get furious with him if he doesn’t deliver.”